


five times richie tried to propose and one time he actually did

by beautifulbane



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: 5 Things, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Eddie Kaspbrak Lives, Established Relationship, M/M, Marriage Proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-13
Updated: 2019-11-13
Packaged: 2021-01-29 21:22:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21416872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beautifulbane/pseuds/beautifulbane
Summary: “There’s something about weddings that’s just so...happy, you know? I love them.”Fuck, Richie thought eloquently. He was so close to blurting out something like, “How happy do you think you’d be at our wedding?” And the alcohol was telling him to go for it, which wasn’t exactly helping.“Except for my wedding,” Eddie added quietly. “Fuck that.”(Or, as the title says, five times Richie tries and fails to propose to Eddie before he finally gets it right.)
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Comments: 12
Kudos: 508





	five times richie tried to propose and one time he actually did

**Author's Note:**

> another reddie fic omg i just can’t help it, i love them so much. i hope you enjoy!!

1.

The first time Richie tried to propose, everything was perfect. He had been planning this for months (who was he kidding — he’d been planning this ever since Eddie kissed him for the first time and told him he loved him back. Maybe even since he was thirteen).

He made reservations to a fancy restaurant an entire month ago. He went shopping with Bev to make sure he had the proper proposal attire. And the ring...Richie couldn’t explain the feeling it had given him the first time he‘d held it in his fingers, other than pure butterflies. There was such a weight to it, and yet he’d never felt lighter. All he could do was anxiously await the night of their reservation so he could finally, _finally_ propose to Eddie.

Now the night was here, and Richie could barely breathe with how nervous he was. It wasn’t that he was afraid Eddie would say no — he knew how much Eddie loved him. But sometimes it still just felt a little surreal, that he got to have this life, this _happiness _with Eddie. Being traumatized by a demon clown as a kid meant that Richie was always just kinda waiting for the worst to happen, and Eddie deciding he didn’t want to spend the rest of his life with him was pretty far up there on the list.

Currently, Richie was sitting on a barstool at the island in their kitchen, sipping at a glass of water while he waited for Eddie to get ready. He’d debated having something stronger, but he was afraid his nerves would lead to him drinking too much.

He was so into his thoughts that he didn’t even realize Eddie had walked into the room. Therefore, he wasn’t expecting the hand that came down on his shoulder. Richie nearly jumped out of his skin and, consequently, his water went sloshing right into his lap.

“Shit!” Richie exclaimed, abruptly standing up.

Eddie looked at him, wide-eyed. “Jesus, Rich, why so jumpy?”

Richie shook his head. He tried to will away the blush of embarrassment forming on his cheeks. “You snuck up on me!” He accused.

Eddie gave him an unimpressed look. “I put my hand on your shoulder. While you knew I was home,” he deadpanned.

“Unacceptable,” Richie said. He then looked down at his lap and sighed. “I’m gonna get changed.”

“It’s just water.”

“Eds, it looks like I pissed myself.” 

Eddie looked down at his lap, too, and let out a small snort before looking back up. “Okay, yeah, it looks like you pissed yourself,” he agreed.

Richie sighed long-sufferingly before making his way to their bedroom to change. Luckily, Bev had insisted on him buying a few nice shirts and pants, just in case anything happened. Richie hadn’t understood that at the time, but he got it now and was thankful for her insistence. He got changed into a new pair of pants, leaving the old, wet ones on the floor, even though he knew Eddie would yell at him later about the carpet molding or something.

Richie then walked back to the living room, where Eddie was waiting for him. Eddie smiled at the sight of him and walked over to meet him, pressing a gentle kiss to his lips.

“Sorry for startling you,” he apologized softly. “You look nice.”

Richie grinned, brushing his thumb over Eddie’s cheek. ”It’s okay. You’re cute enough for me to forgive you.”

Eddie groaned, rolling his eyes as he turned away from Richie so they could walk out of the door together. “Richie, I am forty-one years old, _why_ do you still insist on calling me cute?”

“Because it’s true.”

“It is _not_.”

“Still just as cute as when we were kids. Maybe even cuter.”

“Ugh.”

“Remember when I called you the Miss America of Cute Boys?”

“I’d rid that from my memory until you brought it up just now, so thanks for that.”

“You loved it.”

“I did _not_.”

They argued about Eddie’s cuteness for a good section of the trip to the restaurant, which helped quell Richie’s nerves to a certain extent. He _loved _bickering with Eddie, had ever since they were kids. He knew that Eddie could keep up with him, that he gave as good as he got, and it was exhilarating to Richie. The fact that he was going to be able to bicker with Eddie for the rest of his life...Richie smiled. Yeah, he couldn’t fucking wait for that.

Richie got the two of them a nice booth in the back, very cozy and fairly secluded. It was a nice Italian restaurant, although they served a little bit of everything.

“This place is really fancy,” Eddie whispered, leaning in so that Richie could hear him.

Richie smiled at the fact that Eddie thought he had to whisper that, like it was a secret he didn’t want anyone else to know. Even though he denied it, Eddie really was _cute_.

“I just thought, you know, we deserved something kinda nice,” Richie said, reaching out to hold Eddie’s hand across the table. “We’ve both been way too busy lately.”

Eddie nodded, his eyes softening as he gave Richie’s hand a gentle squeeze. “Yeah, you’re right. I honestly kind of missed you, just a little.”

“Oh yeah? Just a little?” Richie teased. He’d gotten back from touring only a couple of weeks ago, and although Eddie had gone to a few of his shows on the West Coast, there was no way for him to go to them all. He’d recently gone back to school and was studying to be a psychiatrist, which Richie honestly thought was perfect for him.

Eddie shrugged noncommittally, but he was smiling. “_Maybe _more than a little.”

“I missed you, too,” Richie said quietly. He’d been so worried about Eddie not liking the crazy amount of time they had to spend apart while Richie was touring, that he’d grow tired of it and leave him. But here Eddie was, sitting in front of Richie, holding his hand and smiling at him in a way that made Richie‘s heart speed up in his chest.

The rest of the dinner passed by pleasantly enough, although Richie started getting more and more nervous as the night went on. He had planned on proposing before dessert, and it was getting to be around that time.

“Eds,” Richie said softly, his heart in his throat. “I have to ask you something.”

Eddie looked up from the desserts menu with a quiet hum.

Richie reached into his pants pocket, his mouth going dry when his hand was met with nothing. He frantically reached into his other pocket and — shit. _Shit_. The water...he‘d taken his pants with the ring in the pocket off because he’d spilled water on them.

_Fuck_, he couldn’t propose to Eddie without a fucking ring. How shitty would that be?

Having to think fast, Richie snatched the dessert menu from Eddie, ignoring his shout of protest.

“Want to share a tiramisu?” Richie asked.

So, he’d planned on asking Eddie to marry him, but instead he ended up asking him to share a piece of cake with him. Only Richie...literally only Richie.

“Yeah, sure,” Eddie said easily, letting out a small laugh. “You scared me for a second there, asshole. I thought something was wrong.”

Richie shook his head, smiling a smile he didn’t really feel. “Nope!” He exclaimed.

_If only Eddie knew,_ he thought to himself, but decided he would try his best not to let the whole ‘ruined proposal’ thing get to him. It wouldn’t be fair to Eddie for Richie to just suddenly get into a funk, and the two really had enjoyed a wonderful night so far.

They had time. Richie could try to propose again, no problem.

* * *

2.

Except, it was a problem. Because of course it was.

Richie had, once again, gone all out for his second proposal attempt. In fact, this time might have been even more romantic than the first one (who was Richie kidding — it _totally_ was).

He had driven the two of them out to Santa Monica Beach, about an hour before the sun set so that Richie could propose at _just_ the right time. It was January, which meant there weren’t too many people on the beach — everyone had already returned from their winter breaks and were back to work. That meant it was easy for the two of them to find a nice, secluded space, not too far from the pier.

Richie set out a picnic blanket on the sand, even lighting a few candles and placing them on the edge of the blanket. He hadn’t really known what was good to eat for picnic dates, so he’d packed a little bit of everything; fresh bread and cheese, multiple different fruits (including chocolate-covered strawberries for dessert) and charcuterie, plus champagne for them to drink.

“This is ridiculous,” Eddie said with a laugh, sitting down on the blanket. “How did you plan all this?”

Richie shrugged, sitting on the opposite side of him. “I’ve always wanted to have a picnic date. Seemed kinda romantic, you know?”

Eddie looked around him. Richie had to admit, it was absolutely beautiful here; the blue of the ocean, the light orange of the sky before sunset, plus the lights of the pier lit up not too far away from them. It was quite the sight to take in.

“It’s gorgeous,” Eddie said, sounding slightly breathless.

Richie winked at him. ”Just wait until the sun sets.” He filled two glasses with champagne and handed one to Eddie. “To us,” he said softly, holding his glass out to Eddie’s in a toast.

Eddie grinned at him and clinked his glass against his. “To us,” he agreed. They both took a sip before digging into the food that Richie had packed.

“How did you even know to get all of this stuff?” Eddie asked, as he spread a fancy-looking cheese onto a baguette. 

Richie shrugged sheepishly. “I honestly just bought whatever looked good.”

Eddie snorted at him. “Sounds about right.”

Right before sunset, Richie insisted on feeding Eddie a chocolate-covered strawberry.

“It’s sexy,” he said.

Eddie shook his head. “It definitely isn’t.”

“We’ll _make it_ sexy.”

“Jesus, okay, just put the fucking strawberry in my mouth.”

Richie grinned as he took one of the strawberries out of its container, leaning forward so he could feed it to Eddie. Eddie leaned forward too so that he could take a bite of the fruit. Richie was grinning the entire time, looking entirely too pleased with himself.

“You don’t have to look so pleased with yourself,” Eddie mumbled, but then he was leaning forward, wrapping his arms snugly around Richie’s shoulders as he kissed him. Richie kissed back eagerly, any thoughts of a proposal going out of his head for the time being. All he could think of was _EddieEddieEddie_.

“This whole thing is really nice, Rich,” Eddie whispered against his lips. “I’ve never...I’ve never had someone do something like this for me before.”

Richie’s heart skipped in his chest at the words. “It’s what you deserve, Eds,” he said softly, accentuating his words with a kiss. “All of this and more.”

Eddie smiled. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” Richie said, and then, because he was feeling brave, he added, “Always.”

The word made Eddie’s eyes light up. He lightly pushed at Richie’s chest so that he would lie down on his back and then laid down next to him on the picnic blanket. He rested his head on Richie’s shoulder, snuggling into his side.

“Comfy?” Richie asked him, his hand tracing patterns into Eddie’s back over the fabric of his shirt.

Eddie sighed happily. “Very.”

“Just wait ‘till you see the sunset,” Richie said.

“Mhm,” Eddie hummed.

A few minutes passed, Richie staring up at the sky and the ocean in front of him, Eddie curled into his side. He waited until the sun officially began to set before he looked over at Eddie, about to go into his proposal, except...fuck.

Richie could tell from the soft breaths that Eddie let out, from the way his eyes were closed and his face was smoothed out that he was fast asleep. He looked way too content for Richie to try to wake him up, and he knew that Eddie would probably just be grumpy at him anyway if he tried to.

So instead Richie pressed a gentle kiss to Eddie’s forehead, thumbing around in his pocket for the ring.

“Someday, Eddie Kaspbrak,” he whispered. He then watched the rest of the sunset by himself, Eddie fast asleep by his side.

* * *

3.

Richie decided to go with a more lowkey approach, the third time he tried proposing to Eddie. He was beginning to think the problem was that he was making too big of a deal out of it. If he just proposed to Eddie while the two of them were chilling on the couch, what could go wrong?

Still, he wanted to make it a _little_ romantic. He fixed them both spaghetti and meatballs for dinner, Eddie insisting on helping by cutting up fresh vegetables for a salad. They ate dinner at their dining room table, legs tangled together underneath it, until Richie declared it to be movie night and put on one of Eddie’s favorites. He’d always been a Star Wars nerd, so Richie picked Return of the Jedi to watch. Eddie thought the Ewoks were fucking adorable.

They got comfortable on the couch together, but not comfortable enough for Eddie to fall asleep; Richie made sure of that. He laid with his back to the arm of the couch, legs stretched out in front of him. Eddie laid stretched out on top of him, his arms snaking around Richie’s waist and his head resting on Richie’s chest. Richie pulled the blanket from on top of the couch over them, and it was — perfect. Completely cozy and safe and warm.

Richie waited for a part of the movie where not a lot was going on (even though they had both seen the movie a copious amount of times and knew every single thing that was going to happen) before he started talking.

“Eds,” he whispered.

Eddie turned his attention away from the tv, instead looking up at Richie. “Hm?”

He looked _so cute_ looking up at Richie like that. Richie almost _had to_ press a kiss to his forehead, watching the way that Eddie immediately softened.

“I wanted to talk to you about something—“ He started, and then...his phone started ringing. “Fuck!” Richie exclaimed.

Eddie scooted off of his lap so that Richie could grab his phone from the coffee table. He looked kind of surprised at Richie’s outburst, but he didn’t say anything.

“Hello?” Richie asked into the phone, honestly about to commit bloody murder.

“Richie, you need to come into the office _right now_.” It was Steve, his manager.

“I’m kind of in the middle of something, man,” Richie said under his breath.

“I’m on the other line with Netflix. They want to do a special. Apparently they saw how good you were on tour and they’re interested.”

Richie sucked in a breath at the words. _Damn it_. A Netflix special had been a goal of his for a while, knowing it would drive a larger audience to him.

“Shit,” Richie exhaled, frowning as he looked at Eddie on the couch. He’d already had two failed proposals, what was one more? “Okay, I’ll be there in twenty.”

He hung up the phone and walked back into the living room. Eddie was sitting up on the couch, his expression curious as he looked up at Richie.

“Everything okay?” He asked Richie.

Richie nodded apologetically. “It was Steve, he said he’s on the phone with Netflix and...he’s pretty sure they want to do a special.”

Eddie’s eyes went wide with surprise before he grinned, standing up so he could give Richie a hug. “Richie, babe, that’s _incredible_,” he told him sincerely.

Richie hugged him back, thinking about the ring in his jacket pocket. “He wants me to go into the office.”

Eddie pulled back slightly so he could look at Richie. He seemed confused about why Richie sounded so regretful. “Rich, I’ll be here when you get back. We can have movie night some other night, okay?”

Richie nodded, knowing that he couldn’t tell Eddie why he was truly disappointed. “Some other night,” he repeated quietly. He gave Eddie a brief kiss before making his way out the door, unable to believe how shitty his timing was.

* * *

4.

The fourth time Richie tried to propose, it wasn’t so much a planned thing as it was a thought in his mind. They were at Ben and Bev’s wedding because Ben, the son of a bitch, had beat Richie at proposing first. It was all very lovely and beautiful, but Richie couldn’t stop thinking about how he wanted that to be him and Eddie.

Eddie looked really good next to him in a tailored navy blue suit, eyes bright and his smile wide. Plus, he was by Richie’s side all night; placing a hand on the small of his back while they talked to someone together, holding his hand on top of the table, resting his head on Richie’s shoulder and wrapping his arms around his neck while they slow danced. It was all kinds of maddening, the constant touch and attention from Eddie, and just the fact that they were at a _wedding_, surrounded by people who were in love...Richie was almost losing it.

The fact that the drinks kept flowing between them also had his inhibitions lowered even further, to the point where every time Eddie smiled at him or touched him, Richie was ready to just blurt out the words. Screw the fact that he hadn’t brought the ring with him, or that he would be “taking away from Ben and Bev’s moment.” Richie wanted to _propose_, had wanted to for so long now. He truly couldn’t stop thinking about it.

Once the wedding was over, the two of them got a cab back to their hotel, trying to shuffle making out with each other while also navigating their way back to their room. They pretty much just failed at both, laughing into each other’s mouths when they saw that they got off on the wrong floor _again_.

“We need to focus,” Eddie said, very seriously, which in turn made Richie short with laughter. “Rich, _seriously_, what floor were we on?”

Richie let out an “I don’t know” soundand moved to kiss down Eddie’s jaw.

Eddie pushed him off of him. “You are literally no help. Check the room key.”

“Where the fuck is that?” Richie asked, a little peeved that he wasn’t kissing Eddie anymore.

“In your pants pocket, dumbass.”

Richie dug around in his pockets, sure enough pulling their room key out of one of them. He checked for a number and nodded proudly.

“Fourth floor. Why the fuck couldn’t we remember that?” Richie asked, starting to laugh again.

Eddie snorted and pressed the four on the elevator. He leaned in so he could kiss Richie again, clearly not minding the distraction anymore now that they knew where they were going.

They stumbled out of the elevator together when it signaled they were on the fourth floor, both of them pausing for a moment to check what room they were in. Luckily it was close to the elevator, since their thoughts were otherwise occupied.

Richie swiped the room key into its slot, trying not to think about the way that Eddie was curled into his side, all warm and distracting. Once they were inside of their room and the door was closed behind them, they started kissing again, clumsily making their way to the bed.

“We’re gonna fucking trip,” Richie said. He could see it now, both of their drunk asses tripping over a shoe or something in the darkness of their room, then pummeling to the floor together.

“I literally do not care,” Eddie breathed. “There’s something about weddings that’s just so...happy, you know? I love them.”

_Fuckfuckfuck_, Richie thought eloquently. He was so close to blurting out something like, “How happy do you think you’d be at our wedding?” And the alcohol was telling him to go for it, which wasn’t exactly helping.

“Except for my wedding,” Eddie added quietly. “Fuck that.”

Richie felt a pang of sadness go through his chest at the words. He knew Eddie hadn’t meant anything by it, but Richie’s heart still hurt to think about Eddie having to be in a loveless marriage for..._years_. He deserved a wedding that would actually bring him all of the happiness in the world.

Richie wanted to be the one to give him that. Oh _god_ did he ever want to be the one to give him that.

They plopped down onto the bed, actually not tripping over something on the way, much to Richie’s surprise. Immediately, Richie leaned in to kiss him, cupping Eddie’s cheeks with his hands.

“Eddie,” he said. Eddie hmmed. “Eds.”

“What, Rich?” Eddie huffed.

“I love you so fucking much,” Richie told him, already starting to get a bit teary with it. “Like you’re my best friend and the best thing that’s ever happened to me and you deserve all of the happiness in the _world_.”

Eddie blinked. It was still dark in the room, but the orange city lights were bright enough through the window in their room that Richie thought he could make out tears forming in Eddie’s eyes, too.

“What the fuck,” Eddie said tearfully. “Where did that come from?”

Richie shrugged. “We were at a wedding. Ben and Bev got _married_.”

“Yeah,” Eddie sighed, looking a little wistful. “God, it’s great. And I fucking love you too. More than anything.”

Richie wanted to do it right then and there, wanted to ask the love of his life to marry him. Eddie would say yes, he knew it. Richie imagined how happy they both would feel, mixed in with how happy and in love they already were, and it would be amazing, _incredible_—   


But then Eddie’s lips were back on his, kissing him with everything he had, and Richie didn’t quite get to it.

It was probably for the best, considering he didn’t have the ring on him and Ben and Bev would actually kill them if they got engaged on the same night as their wedding.

* * *

5.

It wasn’t long at all after the wedding that Richie prepared to propose for the fifth time. He was in the marriage _mood_, and he couldn’t help but think that maybe Eddie was, too. He kept bringing up little things that he had liked about Ben and Bev’s wedding, and all Richie could do was nod in agreement.

He wanted to tell Eddie _everything_, that their wedding would be even better because it would be, honestly. Yes, there was no need to compare the two, but it was in Richie’s nature to be a competitive little shit.

But there was no his and Eddie’s wedding, because Richie hadn’t fucking proposed yet. And _not_ from a lack of trying.

So now Richie was gonna do it. He had _everything_ prepared — the ring tucked safely in its box in his pocket, a reservation to a different restaurant this time since the last one was clearly cursed (and also so Eddie wouldn’t get suspicious).

It was going to be _great_. Or at least that was what Richie kept telling himself.

The restaurant was called LA Prime, a steakhouse in Los Angeles. Richie had picked it because it had a beautiful view of the city, the perfect scenery to propose with.

“What’s up with all of the fancy restaurants you keep taking me to?” Eddie asked with a laugh, once they had taken their seats. Richie had specifically asked for a table right by the window and had booked a reservation early enough that they could get a view of the sunset while they ate.

Richie laughed too, albeit nervously. “I just, you know.” Eddie looked at him like he did not, in fact, know. “I felt kinda bad, that I couldn’t do all of this stuff while I was away on tour. I want to make up for that, I guess.”

It wasn’t _completely_ untrue. Richie really had felt bad about not being able to do stuff like this while he was on tour. It just wasn’t the whole truth, either.

Eddie smiled softly, reaching out across the table to hold Richie’s hand. “You don’t have to make up for any of that. You were doing your job, and i was busy with classes, anyway. It all worked out.” 

“I’m glad it did,” Richie said quietly. “I mean, I was half expecting you to dump my ass and find someone who was easier to be with.”

Eddie looked at him like he was insane. “_What_?” He asked. “Seriously, Rich?”

Richie shrugged sheepishly.

“What about our lives has ever been easy? That’s boring as shit,” Eddie said, smiling fondly. “You’re stuck with me, asshole. Whether you like it or not.”

The words sent a thrill through Richie. Eddie wanted to be with him for the long run...

“I do like it,” Richie whispered, causing Eddie to blush slightly. “Thirteen-year-old Richie wouldn’t believe his eyes if he saw where we were right now.”

“Because it’s a nice place?” Eddie asked teasingly.

“Mm. I was thinking more because of the company I’m sharing it with.”

Eddie’s blush deepened and he knocked Richie’s foot with his own underneath the table. “Fuck you,” he said, embarrassed, and took a sip of his wine.

“I’m being serious!” Richie said with a laugh. “You _know_ I used to have a big stupid crush on you. Like some straight up head-over-heels shit.”

“Used to?” Eddie asked, but he looked pleased at Richie’s words.

“Well it’s evolved a bit since then,” Richie said with a grin. He saw that Eddie was still holding his hand on the table, so Richie gave his a squeeze, trying to discreetly brush his finger over Eddie’s ring finger. “Eds, about that, I—“

“Oh my god,” Eddie breathed. Richie looked up and saw that Eddie wasn’t looking at him at all, but instead somewhere behind Richie’s head. “Look behind you. _Discreetly_.”

Richie spun around in his seat, definitely _not_ discreet at all. He heard Eddie curse under his breath.

The sight that Richie was met with made him want to curse, too. Some twenty-year-old fuck was down on one knee, proposing to his girlfriend only a couple of tables away from them.

Of all the fucking luck...honestly, what were the odds of two people wanting to propose at the same time, at the same place? With all of the restaurants in Los Angeles?

Richie could only watch in disbelief as the girl stood up, wrapping her arms around the guy’s neck as they kissed happily. The entire restaurant started cheering when he placed the engagement ring on the girl’s finger.

That could have been them, Richie thought to himself. That _should_ have been them.

“Holy shit,” Eddie said, chuckling. Richie begrudgingly tore his gaze away from the couple so he could look at him. “It’s like we’re surrounded by marriage. I mean, Ben and Bev, now this...”

Richie wondered if that was Eddie’s way of dropping a hint. A _“Hey, we’ve been dating for a while now and we’re literally surrounded by marriage so what do you say, want to get engaged?”_ Richie also wondered if he was just imagining things because of how badly he himself wanted to propose to Eddie.

“Crazy,” Richie agreed, reaching out to take a long sip from his wineglass. The ring in his pocket felt like a fucking boulder now.

Eddie must have sensed that something was wrong because he frowned, giving Richie’s hand a small squeeze. “Is everything okay?”

Richie wanted to say _no, everything is not okay, I’ve tried to propose to you_ five times _now but for some reason I fucking can’t_. But obviously he couldn’t do that. So he put on a smile and leaned across the table to press a peck to Eddie’s lips.

“Perfect. I’m just ready for this food to get here, I’m _starved_.”

Eddie hummed in agreement, though he still looked a little suspicious, in Richie’s opinion. At this point, Eddie would probably ask him if he was going to propose before Richie even got the chance to do so. Richie wouldn’t necessarily be surprised if that happened, with how his luck was going so far.

* * *

+1

In the end, the proposal ended up not being something that was planned at all. The two of them were in bed for the night, watching Chopped Junior on the tv in front of them. They were both a little too into it, yelling at their tv as if the kid chefs could hear them. Eddie was particularly into it, his hands going up to his face in worry.

“Don’t overcook the salmon!” He yelled, letting out a huff of frustration when the kid proceeded to do just that. “Fuck, she totally overcooked the salmon. She’s done for.”

Richie was just looking over at him, a fond smile on his lips. It hit him that he loved everything about Eddie, even the way he angrily yelled at the tv while watching Chopped Junior. He had clearly known this for a while now, but it was reiterated for Richie that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Eddie — getting riled up from cooking shows when they were supposed to be settling down for bed.

“Eddie,” he said softly, feeling his heartbeat pick up in his chest when Eddie’s attention shifted from the tv to Richie.

“Yeah?” He asked.

Richie took his hand in his, smiling a bit emotionally. “Marry me,” he murmured.

Eddie’s mouth dropped open in surprise. “W-What?” He stammered. “Seriously?”

Richie nodded enthusiastically. He reached over towards his nightstand and quickly pulled out the box with Eddie’s ring, displaying it to Eddie.

“Seriously,” Richie said. “I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Doing domestic shit like yelling at cooking show competitions together. I’ve never...I’ve never loved someone the way I love you, Eddie. You’re my first love, and I want you to be my last. So, Edward Kaspbrak, will you marry me?”

Eddie’s eyes were tearful as he quickly nodded his head, leaning forward to crush Richie in a hug. “Yes, _yes_, of course I will. God, I love you so much.”

Richie hugged him back tightly. He closed his eyes as he let out a deep sigh of relief. _Finally_ he had been able to propose, and Eddie had said yes.

They broke apart from each other a couple of minutes later, so that Richie could place the ring on Eddie’s finger.

Eddie smiled tearfully at the ring. “Only you would propose during Chopped Junior.”

Richie snorted. “Okay, to be fair, I’ve tried proposing like five times now.”

Eddie’s eyes went wide as he looked up at Richie, tearing his gaze away from the ring. “_What? _When?“

“The fancy Italian restaurant a couple months ago?” Eddie nodded in acknowledgment. “Forgot the ring.”

Eddie snorted. “Of course you did.”

“Okay, well, the picnic date in Santa Monica? You fucking fell asleep!”

“I was tired!” Eddie exclaimed. “And you were just so cozy. Really, it’s your fault.” He then squinted his eyes at Richie. “When else did you try?”

“Right before I got called in about my Netflix special.”

Eddie nodded like that made sense. “That explains why you were so weird about it. You looked like you wanted to cry.”

Richie snorted, elbowing him in the side. “Shut up. I was so desperate I almost even did it after Ben and Bev’s wedding.”

“_What?_“ Eddie asked, gaping. “Oh my god, they would’ve hated you!”

“Would’ve been kinda funny though,” Richie said, leaning into Eddie with a lazy grin.

“Yeah,” Eddie admitted quietly. “I don’t think I would’ve minded. At least not at the time. I was thinking about what our own wedding would be like for most of the night.”

That surprised Richie. “Really?” He asked.

Eddie nodded. “How could I not? I knew I wanted to marry you. It seemed like it was only a matter of time before we got engaged ourselves.”

“Fuck, I love you,” Richie blurted out, delighting in the wide smile it brought to Eddie’s lips.

“I love you, too,” Eddie murmured. They both leaned in at the same time for a kiss, savoring the moment, until Eddie backed away. “I bet I can guess the fifth time.”

Richie blinked distractedly. “Huh?” He asked.

Eddie chuckled. “The fifth time you tried to propose and couldn’t? It was at that steakhouse, wasn’t it? You looked _so_ upset when that guy proposed to his girlfriend, I didn’t understand it at all.”

“You got me,” Richie said. “I’m still kind of mad about it,” he grumbled to himself.

Eddie shook his head in amusement, curling into Richie’s side to prepare for sleep. He rested his head on Richie’s shoulder and his hand, the one with the ring on it, on Richie’s chest. They both looked down at it, silently admiring it.

“I’m glad you proposed like this,” Eddie said quietly.

Richie raised an eyebrow at him. “Yeah?” He asked.

Eddie nodded. “Yeah. I like that it’s just us here. We don’t have to worry about some fucking tabloid story with a clickbait headline and blurry pictures of you on one knee. That would have _sucked_.”

Richie nodded in agreement. “True, I didn’t think about that. We still have to tell the Losers, though.”

Eddie groaned, snuggling deeper into Richie’s side. “Tomorrow. I’m still basking in the afterglow of being proposed to.”

Richie snorted at the words, but he still nodded, resting his hand on top of Eddie’s. He lightly traced over the ring, unable to believe his luck; that he got to be with Eddie for the rest of their lives.

He loved him, and he always had. Now he would get to love him for the rest of their lives.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! let me know what you thought! and feel free to cry about reddie with me on twitter @toziersr


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